Combined steam and hot-air heater



(No Model.)

W. HARLEY. GOMBINED STEAM AND HOT AIR HEATER.

No. 430,993. Patented June 24, 1890.

a o o o o o a o o a e Q0 :j/TNEEEEE INVENTEIF UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM EARLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMBINED STEAM AND HOT-AIR HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 430,993, dated June 24, 1890.

Application filed February 8, 1890. Serial No. 339,685. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM EARLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Steam and Hot-Air Heaters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention.

My invention has relation to apparatus for heating buildings, and has for its object to provide novel, simple, and efficient means whereby a portion or portions of said buildings may be heated by steam and another portion or portions of the same by hot air.

from a single plant.

My invention consists in the peculiar construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter specified, having reference particularly to the following points or features: the provision of a lining for tho fire-pot of an ordinary or any form of hot-air heater, composed of a series of alternating fire -brick and hollow iron sections of the same shape as such fire -brick, one of such iron sections having suitable pipes and connections between it and an ordinary circulating-boiler and operating to heat the water in said boiler, and the balance of such iron sections having suitable pipes and connections through which the heated water in the boiler is supplied to them, the latter, through their contact with the fire, operating to convert the water therein into steam, which is led therefrom into a suitable steam chest or receiver and thence to the radiators. At the same time, simultaneously with the above-described generating process, the hot air from-the fire which heats the steam-generators is distributed in the desired localities through the usual drums, fines, and registers.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention complete, and-Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the improved fire-pot.

A represents the heater-casing, sustained on the base A, supportingthe hot-air flues a, and having therein the horizontal smoke pipes or drums B B E the branch pipes 11 b,

the horizontal partitions C C, and the outletpipe D, all of which are of the same character as those shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 408,4;69, granted to me on August 6, 1889, the pipes B B 13 being shown in the drawings as being partly broken away for convenience of illustration.

- E represents the casing or shell inclosing the fire-pot, which is sustained on the baseplate or bottom a in the usual manner and has the usual opening 6 for the passage of coal or other fuel to the fire.

f f represent the fire-brick, sustained vertically in the base of the casing E and alternating with similarly-shaped hollow iron sections f f, which are in eifect generators, these sections having chambers f in their interiors of such size as to leave a thin wall on all their sides, which is shell-like, as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be observed that the fire-brick fand the generator-sections f form the lining for the fire-pot in the same manner as where said lining is composed wholly of fire-brick and said sections on their inner surfaces comeinto direct contact with the fire, and, owing to the conductivity of the metal of which they are composed, become heated to a high degree without detracting from the amount of heat necessary to the performance of the hot-airheating functions of the heater proper,

Gis a circulating-boiler of the ordinary type as used with kitchen-ranges, provided with a supply-pipe G, and having connecting-pipes g 9 between it and the hollow iron section F, which is the same as the abovementioned sections f, said pipes being secured at their ends to said boiler and section by the ordinary form of couplings g g g, the pipe g being provided with a cook 94, for drawing the waterfrom the boiler, and a valve 9 for stopping the flow of water to the section F, which is the heater for the water in said boiler, after the manner of a water-back.

h is a connecting-pipe between the upper part of the boiler G, to which it is secured by the coupling h, and the circular pipe H, which follows the contour of the fire-pot outside of the casing E near the bottom thereof,

and is provided with short arms or branches 71 which pass through said casing and are connected in any convenient manner to the lower parts of the generators f. The pipe h is also provided with a valve 71/3, for regulating the fiow of water to the generators, so that they may not receive too great a quantity of water and prevent'the successful generation of, steam, yet it may hereafter be found preferable to provide said pipe with an automatic feed-water regulator. On the other hand, should it be considered desirable to place the boiler G in a horizontal position, it can be placed at such a height as to have the water in the generators at the same level with that in the boiler, thus obviating all necessity for a regulator, as aforesaid.

I is a segmental pipe following for a portion of the distance the contour of and directly above the upper edge of the fire-pot lining or the upper edges of the fire-brick and generators, being broken away or terminating at each side of the opening e, so as to not interfere with the latter. This pipe is located within the casing E, and has short vertical arms or branches t', which may be and are connected with the upper edges of the generators f.

K is another pipe, which at one end passes through the casing E at c and is connected to the pipe I at t. The other end of-the pipe K is coupled at 70 to a steam chest or receiver L, which, as shown in the drawings, is suspended in straps Z Z, although any other means of support may be employed, as may other forms of stcam receptacles. k k are supplypipes for conveying the steam from the chest to the radiators, the water of condensation in which radiators is led to the boiler Gthrough the return-pipe G and said supply-pipes are provided with the valves 70 Obviously, the steam-chest may be provided with any desired number of pipes 70, according to the necessities of the case.

It may be found desirable to change the arrangement of the fire-brick and generators from the alternating form to, for instance, a pair of fire-brick and next a single generator, or pair and pair thereof, or an entire firepot lining of generators, and so on; also, it may be found preferable to locate the steamchest within the heatercasing, making it of such shape and size as to accommodate it to such a position, in which case the steam could be maintained more nearly to its normal heat.

fering with the heater proper. It is quite obvious that the form of steam-heating apparatus hereinbefore described can be used to equal advantage with any form of hot-air heater.

The operation is as follows: First the boiler G is filled with water. Then the valves 9 h are opened, presuming of course that the fire is started. The heater F heats the water in the boiler G, which water passes through the pipe h to the pipe H, which, through its branches, conveys the water to the generators f, where it is converted into steam by the heat in the fire-pot, which steam passes through the branches 2' into the pipe I, thence through the pipe K to the steam-chest L, and finally to the radiators through the valves and pipes 70', the purpose of which valves is to afford means for controlling the supply of steam to such radiators. Furthermore, the generators f may be used to the same advantage for boiling water for ahot-water-heating apparatus in lieu of the steam-heating apparatus.

WVhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a combined steam and hot-air heater, the combination of the steam-generators f, the water-heater F, and the fire-brick f, forming the fire-box lining, a water tank or boiler, pipes intermediate the latter and the waterheater, the pipe H, with its branches 71 leading into the generators, a water supply pipe between the boiler and pipe H, and the steam-pipe I, with its branches 2', leading from the generators and discharging into a steam-receiver, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a combined steam and hot-air heater, the combination of the steam-generators f, the water-heater F, and the fire-brick f, forming the fire-box lining, the boiler G, the pipes g 9, connecting the latter with the waterheater, the pipe H, with its branches h leading into the generators and connected with the boiler by a water-supply pipe, and the steampipe I, with its branches 2', leading from the generators and discharging into a steam-receiver, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a combined steam and hot-air heater,

the combination of the steam-generators f,

the water-heater F, and the fire-brick f, forming the fire-box lining, the boiler G, the pipes g 9, connecting the latter with the waterheater, the pipe H, with its branches 71?, leading into the generators and connected with the boiler by a water-supply pipe, and the steam-pipe I, with its branches 2', leading from the generators and into the steam-chest L, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a combined steam and hot-air heater, the combination of the steam-generators f, the water-heater F, and the fire-brick f, forming the fire-box lining, the boiler G, the pipes g 9, connecting the latter with the waterheater, the pipe H, with its branches h leading into the generators, the pipe h, leading from the boiler to pipe H, the steam-pipe I, In testimony that I claim the foregoing I with its branches 2', leading from the generhave hereunto set my hand this 30th day of ators through the pipe K to the steam-chest January, A. D. 1890.

L, the distributing-pipes 75, leading from the \VILLIAM EARLEY. latter to the radiators, and a return-pipe lead- WVitnesses:

ing' from the latter to said boiler, substan- WM. I-I. POWELL,

tially as shown and described. R. DALE SPARHAWK. 

